His Next
Object Was To Sail Down The Western Branch Of The River.
With this view he
left Pattala with all his gallies, some of his half-decked vessels, and his
quickest sailing transports, ordering at the same time a small part of his
army to attend his fleet.
Considerable difficulties arose, and some loss
was sustained from his not being able to procure a native pilot, and from
the swell in the river, occasioned by a violent wind blowing contrary to
the stream. He was at length compelled to seize some of the natives, and
make them act as pilots. When they arrived near the confluence of the Indus
with the sea, another storm arose; and as this also blew up the river,
while they were sailing down with the current and the tide, there was
considerable agitation in the water. The Macedonians were alarmed, and by
the advice of their pilots ran into one of the creeks of the river for
shelter: at low tide, the vessels being left aground, the sharp-built
gallies were much injured.
The astonishment of the Macedonians was greatly excited when they saw the
waters of the river and of the sea ebb and flow. It is well known, that in
the Mediterranean the tides are scarcely perceptible. The flux and reflux
of the Euripus, a narrow strait which separates the island of Euboea from
the coast of Beotia, could give them no idea of the regularity of the
tides; for this flux and reflux continued for eighteen or nineteen days,
and was uncommonly unsettled the rest of the month. Besides, the tides at
the mouth of the Indus, and on the adjacent coast, are very high, and flow
in with very great force and rapidity; and are known in India, in the Bay
of Fundy, and in most other places where this phenomenon occurs, by the
name of the Bore; and at the mouth of the Severn, by the name of Hygre, or
Eagre. Herodotus indeed, mentions, that in the Red Sea there was a regular
ebb and flow of the sea every day; but as Dr. Robertson very justly
observes, "among the ancients there occur instances of inattention to
facts, related by respectable authors, which appear surprising in modern
times." Even so late as the time of Caesar, a spring tide in Britain, which
occasioned great damage to his fleet, created great surprize, and is
mentioned as a phenomenon with which he and his soldiers were unacquainted.
Soon after Alexander had repaired the damage that his fleet had sustained,
he surveyed two islands lying at the west mouth of the Indus; and
afterwards leaving the river entirely, entered the ocean, either for the
purpose of ascertaining himself whether it were actually navigable, or, as
Arrian conjectures, in order to gratify his vanity by having it recorded,
that he had navigated the Indian Ocean.
Having accomplished this object, he returned to Pattala, where he had
directed a naval arsenal to be formed, intending to station a fleet at this
place.
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